Chronology of the Easter Rising

Monday, 17 April, 1916
• The Military Council meets and approves the draft of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. The Council also agrees who will form the provisional government, the seven of whom will also put their names to the Proclamation.

The Proclamation (L) and the leaders of the Rising (R). (Images: National Library of Ireland)

Wednesday, 19 April, 1916
• Those who will act as commandants during Easter week are made aware that the Rising is scheduled to begin at 6.30pm on Easter Sunday.

Thursday, 20 April, 1916
• Bulmer Hobson uncovers the plans for a Rising, and immediately informs Eoin MacNeill. The two men drive to St Enda’s at midnight and confront Pearse who tells them that they are powerless to stop the Rising from taking place.

Friday, 21 April, 1916
• MacNeill spends the early morning trying to halt the Rising. He issues orders to the Volunteers to ignore Pearse’s plans and instructs them that in future they must only obey orders issued by MacNeill himself. J.J. O’Connell is dispatched to Cork in an attempt to halt the Rising there.
• MacNeill is later visited by Seán Mac Diarmada who convinces him to support the Rising in light of his revelation of the impending arrival of a large shipment of arms from Germany. His mind changed, MacNeill then cancels his countermanding orders.
• In the evening Bulmer Hobson, as a moderate within the Volunteer leadership who opposed the Rising, was taken prisoner by the IRB at 76 Cabra Park. At the same time the Military Council held what they believed would be their last meeting prior to the commencement of the Rising at Houlihan’s Shop on Amiens Street.
• Unbeknown to those planning in Dublin, the German U Boat, U19, carrying Casement, Monteith and Beverley had come alongside the Kerry coast in the early morning. At around 3am the three men landed in a small boat at Banna Strand. Casement took refuge in McKenna’s fort, while the other two men attempted to make contact with the local IRB. All three are arrested by local police.
• In the early morning the Aud had also arrived off the Kerry coast at Fenit, but found no one waiting to meet the ship. By lunchtime two British ships began tracking the Aud, and by early evening had cornered it and began escorting it to Queenstown.

Eoin MacNeill (Image: UCD Archives)

Saturday, 22 April, 1916
• At dawn a messenger from the Kerry Volunteers arrived in Dublin and informed Connolly that Casement had been arrested.
• A meeting of the Military Council was hastily organised, and the decision taken not to inform MacNeill about Casement’s arrest.
• In the morning the captain of the Aud makes the decision to scuttle his ship. While he and the crew are rescued, the armaments on board the Aud are lost. By early afternoon the Military Council are made aware of the loss of their arms shipment.
• At 6pm Sean Fitzgibbon, Colm O’Loughlin and The O’Rahilly arrive at Woodtown Park and inform MacNeill of the arrests and the loss of the Aud. After confronting Pearce at St Enda’s, MacNeill and others gather at the house of Seamus O’Kelly on Rathgar Road and a decision is made to issue countermanding orders cancelling the Rising planned for Easter Sunday. To make sure that the countermanding order was received and understood James Ryan was sent overnight to Cork, Colm O’Loughlin to Dundalk and Coalisland, Sean Fitzgibbon to Wateford and Min Ryan to Wexford. The O’Rahilly travelled to Limerick, Kerry, Cork and Tipperary.
• During the evening, General Friend, General Officer Commanding of British forces in Ireland, travelled to London on leave in wake of the capture of the Aud believing that any potential insurgency had been stopped. Chief Secretary Birrell was also in London having attended a Cabinet meeting. Both men would remain in London through Easter, leaving Under Secretary Matthew Nathan as the most senior British official remaining in Dublin.

Roger Casement (Image: UCD Archives, LA 30/PH/408)

Sunday, 23 April, 1916
• 01.00 – MacNeill arrives at the offices of the Sunday Independent and delivers his countermanding order cancelling all Volunteer activity. The order is included in the day’s paper for distribution on Sunday morning.
• 09.00 – The Military Council begins a four hour meeting to discuss what to do in light of MacNeill’s countermanding order. The meeting decides to go ahead with the Rising beginning at noon on Easter Monday. It also finalises the text of the Proclamation to be read out at the GPO and elects Pearse as Commandant-General of the Army of the Irish Republic. In the afternoon messengers are sent to local commandants in Dublin and beyond informing them of the new timetable for the Rising.
• 14.30 – The Irish Citizen Army meets at Liberty Hall.

• 16.45 – 200 members of the Citizen Army take part in a route march through the centre of Dublin city.
• 22.00 – A conference is held at the Viceregal Lodge in Phoenix Park to discuss the events of the last few days. In attendance are Under-Secretary Nathan, Colonel H.V. Cowan (Army), Major Ivon Price (Military Intelligence), Chief Commissioner Edgeworth-Johnstone (Dublin Metropolitan Police) and Viscount Wimborne (Lord Lieutenant of Ireland). The meeting discusses the possibility of raiding Liberty Hall and arresting the known ring leaders of any plot, but the decision is made that no action would be taken until a final decision is made by Chief Secretary Birrell in London. As he did not receive the telegram asking for his opinion until Easter Monday, no preemptive action is taken by the British.

The Viceregal Lodge in Dublin, the home of the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Wimborne and where a conference was held by the administration on the day before the Rising. (Image: National Library of Ireland, LROY 337)

Monday, 24 April, 1916
• 10.55 – Members of the Irish Volunteers are seen gathering in uniform at Blackhall Place.
• 11.00 – Large numbers of Volunteers begin gathering at Liberty Hall. They are joined by members of the Irish Citizen Army. Volunteer activity is also observed around St Stephen’s Green.
• 11.15 – Volunteers are observed moving towards the Grand Canal.
• 11.35 – Volunteers are also seen coming together at Bishop Street and have also moved into Jacob’s Biscuit Factory.
• 11.40 – Members of the Irish Citizen Army take control of St Stephen’s Green, and Volunteers have entered the South Dublin Union. Nearby Volunteers also take control of the Four Courts.
• 11.55 – GPO seized by rebels. Further groups dispatched to the Imperial Hotel, Clery’s and other shops facing O’Connell Bridge.
• 12.00 – British ammunition convoy ambushed near Four Courts.
• 12.00 – Citizen Army under Michael Mallin take control of St Stephen’s Green. Unarmed DMP constable, Michael Lahiff, killed. Michael Cavanagh also killed when he tried to remove his cart from a barricade that had been built outside the Shelbourne Hotel.
• 12.17 – Rebels attack Magazine Fort in Phoenix Park. Attack fails, but teenage son of fort’s commandant is killed.
• 12.20 – 3rd Royal Irish regiment comes under fire from Volunteers inside the South Dublin Union.
• 12.30 – Bolands Mills and Bolands Bakery taken over by rebels.
• 12.30 – The British response begins. Colonel Cowan orders 6th Reserve Cavalry to send a patrol to Sackville Street and for the three battalions of the Dublin Garrison to send men to defend Dublin Castle. He also contacts the Curragh by phone and asks that the mobile column of the 3rd Reserve Cavalry is sent to Dublin.
• 12.35 – The Mendicity Institution is taken by Volunteers and its residents forced onto the street.
• 12.35 – Lord Wimborne orders the 6th Reserve Cavalry to send detachments to defend the Magazine Fort and Viceregal Lodge in Phoenix Park.
• 12.45 – Pearse appears outside the GPO and proclaims the establishment of the Irish Republic.
• 13.00 – Eamon Bulfin and other rebels raise two flags above the GPO: the Irish tricolour and a green one bearing the words ‘Irish Republic’.
• 13.00 – Volunteers gather in pockets across County Galway led by Liam Mellows.
• 13.10 – Volunteers take buildings around Fumbally Lane and Malpas St.
• 13.15 – A troop of the 6th Reserve Cavalry proceeds down Sackville Street and is engaged by rebels in the GPO and buildings opposite. Four lancers killed.
• 13.15 – In addition to the buildings they have taken, Volunteers are also securing control of various bridges across the city. It seems that they are attempting to erect a cordon around the centre of the city and control the main routes into the centre.

A map showing the cordon of troops surround the city. (Image: Irish Life: A Record of the Irish Rebellion, 1916. Full collection available in the National Library of Ireland)

• 13.20 – Members of the Irish City Army, led by Seán Connolly, fail to take control of Dublin Castle. In their attempted attack a policeman, Constable O’Brien, is killed. They move next door and take control of City Hall.
• 13.30 – Rebels take control of Harcourt Railway Station but critically fail to take control of other major transport terminals in the city or the quays of the Dublin docklands.
• 13.40 – Pickets of the 3rd Royal Irish Rifles and 10th Royal Dublin Fusiliers arrive at the Ship Street Barracks after coming under fire at the Jacob's Factory and Mendicity Institution respectively.
• 13.40 – British cavalry attacked as they pass the Four Courts.
• 13.50 – Intense fighting around City Hall. The rebels are on the roof, while soldiers on the street fire at their positions. Seán Connolly is shot and killed and becomes the first rebel to die during the rebellion.
• 14.00 – There is increased fighting across the city as troops begin to respond to the Rising. As they try to move around the city they come under fire from positions held by the rebels. Troops from Richmond Barracks are attacked at the South Dublin Union, while others are engaged in Portobello.
• 14.20 – Fighting continues at the South Dublin Union as troops attempt to clear the rebel positions. Rebels holding the Marrowbone Lane Distillery respond with intense fire.
• 15.00 – Members of Georgius Rex veterans squad return to Beggars Bush after manoeuvres. They are aged and unarmed but come under fire from Volunteers on Northumberland Road. Four are killed. Pearse subsequently issues order that no unarmed men, even if in uniform, are to be shot at.
• 15.30 – Looting begins across the city as people take advantage of the upheaval and the apparent lack of law and order.
• 16.00 – The military response to the Rising begins in earnest. Lead elements of the Curragh Mobile Column arrive and secure Kingsbridge Station.
• 16.30 – Trains carrying the main body of troops from the Curragh begin to arrive at Kingsbridge at 15-20 minute intervals.
• 16.30 – Detachments from the Army Musketry School at Dollymount filter through the city and secure the facilities at North Wall.
• 17.20 – Troops recently arrived at Kingsbridge Station have made their way to Dame Street and are engaged in a fierce battle with the rebels at City Hall.
• 17.30 – Rebels have secured positions on all sides of O’Connell Street Bridge.
• 17.45 – Nurse killed during sustained fighting at South Dublin Union.
• 19.00 – Officer Training Corps and porters defending Trinity College reinforced by numbers of British and colonial servicemen on leave in Dublin.
• 19.30 – Captain Elliotson of the Curragh Mobile Column conducts reconnaissance of rebel positions around City Hall and the Rates Office, which is shortly followed by a full scale attack on the rebels holding City Hall.
• 20.00 – Rebels around Jacob’s Factory leave the on-street positions they held during the day and seek night time safety inside the factory.
• 20.00 – The army attack on City Hall continues and the interior of the building has been cleared with rebels retaining control of the roof.
• 20.30 – Looting continues in Sackville Street, and fires also begin breaking out in premises on the street.

Postcard depicting the fires that engulfed buildings along Sackville (O'Connell) Street during the rebellion. (Image: South Dublin County Libraries)

• 23.15 – The rebels have stormed into the Gasworks on South Lotts Road and dismantled the machinery there which has left much of the south side of the city in darkness.

Tuesday, 25 April, 1916
• 02.15 – Capt. Elliotson and an army machine gun group of 100 men secure Shelbourne Hotel which offers them military control of St Stephen’s Green.
• 03.20 – Troops take control of Royal Services Club on St Stephen’s Green.
• 03.45 – Brigadier Lowe arrives at Kingsbridge with remainder of 25th Reserve Infantry Brigade and takes personal control of British forces.
• 05.30 – Intense gunfire around Stephen’s Green under fire with high numbers of rebel casualties.

St Stephen's Green where the rebels stationed themselves on Monday (L) and the Shelbourne Hotel, seen from St Stephen's Green, where a group of soldiers secured positions to allow them to take military control. (R) (Image: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA)

• 08.00 – British forces take control of City Hall having re-captured the roof. All rebels remaining in the building are taken prisoner.
• 08.30 – Under heavy fire the Citizen Army force at St Stephen’s Green take the decision to abandon their exposed positions in the Green and take up new positions in the Royal College of Surgeons. They take to the roof and begin exchanging fire with British forces. Four rebels are confirmed killed in the Green.
• 10.30 – At Portobello Bridge and in the street around Jacob’s Factory there is intense sniper fire from the rebels.
• 11.20 – While British troops have been trying to take the South Dublin Union for hours, they cannot dislodge the rebels who are firing at them. The decision is made to temporarily halt the British attack on the Union building.
• 13.00 – Shooting has continued all morning around the GPO.
• 14.00 – The British have continued to rush troops into the city from across Ireland. During the morning the Reserve Artillery have arrived from Athlone, the 4th Royal Dublin Fusiliers from Templemore and the Ulster Composite Battalion from Belfast. The Dublin Fusiliers come under attack near City Hall as they attempt to dislodge rebels from the Evening Mail offices.
• 14.20 – The British attack the positions held by Seamus Murphy and 50 Volunteers at the Jameson’s distillery on Marrowbone Lane. A two-hour-long battle ensues in which the British suffer losses. The attack fails and the Volunteers hold their position.
• 15.00 – British 18-pounder artillery based at Grangegorman Asylum opens fire on rebel positions in the Phibsboro area.
• 15.15 – The 6th Reserve Cavalry moves into the Phibsboro area and two hours later have largely secured the area.
• 17.25 – Volunteers attack Broadstone Railway Station where British troops are based.
• 18.00 – Rebels in Galway have attempted to take control of RIC barracks at Oranmore and Clarinbridge. Both attacks fail.
• 20.00 – After having taken control of the Mail and Express Building, British troops advance into Parliament Street and come under sustained fire from rebels in the Exchange Hotel. Soldiers are killed and seriously wounded. When the attack ends the rebels vacate the Exchange Hotel and move towards Sackville Street.
• 20.00 – The journalist and pacifist. Francis Sheehy-Skeffingtoin is arrested on Portobello Bridge and taken prisoner by the British and removed to Portobello Barracks.
• 20.15 – British gun yacht, the HMY Helga has entered the Liffey and fired at Boland’s Mills damaging the upper storeys.
• 22.00 – Rebels have spent the day strengthening their hold on the Sackville Street area and now hold both the Imperial and Metropole hotels. Fighting continues in St Stephen’s Green between the British holding several key vantage points and the rebels based on the roof of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Wednesday, 26 April, 1916
• 06.00 – British troops have been arriving at Kingstown all night. They number in their thousands and are largely men who have recently finished their basic training and had been waiting at Watford for dispatch to the Western Front before being diverted to Ireland.
• 07.00 – At Carnmore, County Galway, in an exchange of fire between Volunteers and the RIC, two policemen have been killed.
• 08.00 – The news that Martial Law has been proclaimed by British authorities is announced. This means that civilians are not allowed out on the streets between 7pm and 5am.
• 08.30 – The HMY Helga and HMY Seahawk are anchored in the Liffey and have begun shelling Liberty Hall.
• 09.00 – Fighting has resumed at dawn around Jacob’s Factory and Dublin Castle. There is also intense sniper fire across Sackville Street. It is widely reported that civilians are being killed when caught in the crossfire.
• 09.15 – Daily life across Dublin has been disrupted by the fighting. Businesses are closed, transport halted and basic supplies of food are becoming scarce. Looting has also been a night time feature on the main shopping streets of the city.
• 09.30 – The Composite Battalion of 15th Reserve Infantry launches bayonet attack across Beresford Place towards Eden Quay and Lower Abbey Street.
• 10.00 – Sheehy Skeffington with two journalists, Thomas Dickson and Patrick MacIntyre, shot dead by firing squad under the orders of Capt J.C. Bowen-Colthurst inside Portobello Barracks. Bowen-Colthurst will be found guilty of unlawful killing but found to be insane.
• 10.30 – British troops recently landed at Kingstown have begun their march into the city centre. Half will take the inland road into town through Donnybrook, while the others will march along the coast road and will enter the city via Northumberland Road and Mount Street Bridge.
• 12.00 – The naval bombardment of Liberty Hall has effectively destroyed the building. The HMY Helga has now turned its guns on targets on Sackville Street.
• 12.15 – Intense fighting is taking place at the Mendicity Institution and has been continuing for two hours. The British are pushing large numbers of troops into the attack and are using hand grenades to force an advantage. The Volunteers have offered stout resistance, and troops have now withdrawn.
• 12.20 – The 2/7th and 2/8th Sherwood Foresters have begun moving forward from the Royal Dublin Showgrounds towards Northumberland Road. They are marching in strict formation, and the company HQ has been established behind them in Pembroke Town Hall.
• 12.40 – The Sherwood Foresters enter Northumberland and come under intense fire. Michael Malone and James Grace are fortified inside 25 Northumberland Road and can fire freely at the advancing troops. Within minutes there are a large number of dead and injured troops on the street.
• 12.45 – A further wave of Sherwood Foresters is sent down Northumberland Road in an attempt to dislodge Malone and Grace. The attempt fails and more men are killed and injured.
• 12.55 – Renewed fighting at the Mendicity Institution as the British try to take the building in a fresh assault.
• 13.10 – British troops have crossed Baggot Street Bridge and moved down the canal on Percy Place. Rather than being able to support their fellow troops on Northumberland Road they come under fire from rebels holding Clanwilliam House. The fighting in the whole area is intense, and the British are suffering high casualty numbers.
• 13.45 – Mendicity Institution has fallen to the British. Seán Heuston leads his exhausted men out of the building and they are taken prisoner. Shortly afterwards a Volunteer is killed by British forces.
• 14.00 – Troops from Trinity College begin to occupy buildings in D’Olier and Westmoreland Streets
• 14.15 – Attention shifts from the Mendicity Institution and the Four Courts becomes the next battleground.
• 14.25 – Fighting continues in the Northumberland Road area. The rebel positions appear to be holding, and the number of British casualties rises. A number of civilian dead are also reported. Doctors and nurses from a local hospital have gone to the area to treat the injured.

British soldiers in Talbot Street, Dublin holding the line against the rebels. (Image: UCD)

• 14.40 – British troops have been moved into positions across the city and an effective British cordon around rebel positions in the city is complete.
• 14.40 – A number of British artillery positions have been established around Sackville Street and have begun shelling the main rebel strongholds.
• 15.00 – The British have halted their assault on Northumberland Road and have begun to regroup.
• 15.10 – The British attempt a fresh assault on Northumberland Road, but troops are fired on from 25 Northumberland Road, the Parochial House and Clanwilliam House. Casualty figures continue to rise.
• 15.30 – Artillery attacks on rebel positions on Sackville Street continue, as do the exchanges of sniper fire around St Stephen’s Green and at Marrowbone Lane.
• 17.00 – In a brief lull in fighting on Northumberland Road, medics from the nearby Sir Patrick Dun’s hospital are administering to wounded soldiers who have been left lying in the street during the incessant fighting.
• 17.10 – British infantry make an attempt to cross O’Connell Bridge and enter Sackville Street but they are forced back by rebel fire.
• 17.20 – 25 Northumberland Road, still held by Malone and Grace is under a full frontal assault. Soldiers are supported by machine gun fire from the tower of Haddington Road Church.
• 18.00 – Troops have finally forced their way into 25 Northumberland Road. Malone has been killed, but Grace appears to have escaped. The two men have resisted the British onslaught for five hours. With the building secure, troops begin advancing further down the street towards their next target at Clanwilliam House.
• 18.15 – Fighting continues around the Four Courts, with rebels setting fire to buildings in an attempt to hamper the military advance.
• 18.30 – The Sherwood Foresters move past the Parochial House on Northumberland Road. Four Volunteers from the building are arrested as they exit the rear of the building.
• 18.35 – Attention on Northumberland Road turns to the schoolhouse. In pursuit of that target the British are still being attacked from Clanwilliam House.
• 18.45 – The schoolhouse is taken by the British but actually found to be empty. The last rebel stronghold, Clanwilliam House, now becomes the sole target.
• 18.55 – The frontal assault on Clanwilliam House continues, but the intense fire from the seven Volunteers in the building means that troops are struggling to even cross Mount St Bridge. Casualty numbers continue to rise.
• 19.00 – Fighting continues around the Four Courts and the British are now using artillery to shell the building. Throughout the area the noxious smoke from burning buildings is making life impossible for the civilians huddling together in their draughty tenements. Pantries are running dry and the overall situation is rapidly reaching desperation.
• 19.45 – British attempts to take Clanwilliam House are being further hampered by Volunteer fire from a nearby railway line.
• 19.55 – The Sherwood Foresters begin another attempt to storm Clanwilliam House, but the attack fails with further losses.
• 20.10 – British troops have finally made it across Mount Street Bridge, and begin to try and enter Clanwilliam House.
• 20.15 – The British begin throwing hand grenades into Clanwilliam House. Fires start burning in the building.
• 20.35 – Clanwilliam House is taken. Three Volunteers have died in the building, while four others have managed to escape and avoid arrest.
• 21.00 – The fighting has ceased in the Northumberland Road area. It has taken nearly nine hours for the Sherwood Foresters to advance the 300 yards from 25 Northumberland Road to Clanwilliam House. Five rebels have died in the fighting, four have been arrested and a remaining five have evaded arrest. The British put over 1,500 men onto the street during the day and four officers and 216 other ranks have been killed or seriously wounded.
• 22.00 – Through the night there is constant sniper fire across the city.
• 22.30 – During the day rebels in County Galway have congregated in Athenry. They number approximately 500 and are now camped at Moyode Castle and Limepark to the south of the town. The HMS Gloucester has moored in Galway Bay and has been regularly shelling the Volunteer positions.

Thursday, 27 April, 1916
• 05.00 – In the early hours of the morning, Volunteers in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, took control of the town hall and have surrounded the RIC barracks, cutting off its gas and water supply. They have established their HQ at the Athenaeum Club beside the town’s castle.
• 05.15 – British troops begin using improvised armoured cars to move men and materials more safely around Dublin. The vehicles have come from the Guinness factory.
• 07.00 – The number of British troops now stationed at Trinity College is estimated to be as high as 4,000.
• 08.00 – Food shortages becoming apparent in the city. Shops, businesses and banks closed. Decision taken that troops will open warehouses across the city and distribute food to civilians.
• 08.40 – Intense exchanges of fire begin again in Marrowbone Lane.
• 10.00 – British begin to shell Sackville Street area. An 18-pound shell hits the Irish Times building and ignites rolls of newsprint.
• 10.30 – The fire at the Irish Times building spreads quickly, and British troops are able to move forward under the cover of smoke as far as Middle Abbey Street.
• 10.35 – In Marrowbone Lane the latest British attack on rebel positions has been repulsed.
• 10.40 – Firing reported in Merrion Square and St Stephen’s Green.
• 13.00 – Continued fighting around the Four Courts with the rebels now under intense fire from shells being launched from the roof of Jervis Street Hospital.
• 13.15 – Ceannt’s 4th battalion at South Dublin Union engage 2/7th and 2/8th Sherwood Foresters who are attempting to march to Kilmainham via Leeson Street bridge.
• 14.00 – Troops encircling Marrowbone Lane are attacked with homemade hand grenades which briefly repels the British advance.
• 15.00 – British infantry attack on Sackville Street has stalled. Fires in the area are intensifying and spreading from building to building on Lower Abbey Street.
• 15.15 – James Connolly wounded by a ricochet as he watched fighting on Middle Abbey Street.

James Connolly, one of the leaders of the rising was wounded during the fighting. (Image: Illustrated London News, [London, England] May 6 1916)

• 16.35 – Renewed fighting at the South Dublin Union.
• 16.45 – Capel St Bridge taken by the British.
• 17.00 – The fires in and around Sackville Street have taken hold, and are burning freely, and the shelling of the area continues unabated.
• 19.00 – A and B companies of 2/5th Sherwood Foresters mistaking each other for the enemy open fire on each other.
• 20.00 – North of the Liffey British troops begin tunnelling through houses to reach objectives and avoid enemy fire.
• 20.05 – The British have taken control of Capel Street. This means that the rebel HQ at the GPO is cut off from the Four Courts garrison.
• 20.30 – The combination of the fires and the heavy shelling means that rebel held buildings such as the Imperial Hotel and Clery’s will have to be abandoned.
• 22.00 – Fire spreads to Hoyte’s Druggists igniting large oil drums and chemicals in storage; fire spreads out of control.
• 22.30 – The inferno on Sackville Street, coupled with the British advances during the day, means that some of the smaller outposts held by the rebels are being evacuated and they are moving back to the GPO.

Friday, 28 April, 1916
• 00.01 – Fire out of control in Sackville Street and the Dublin Fire Brigade is stood down due to danger of small arms fire in the area.
• 02.00 – General Sir John Maxwell arrives at North Wall Dock to assume command of British operations in the city.
• 07.55 – Shelling resumes targeting the GPO.
• 08.30 – 2/4th Lincolns throw a cordon around de Valera’s 3rd battalion based at Boland's Bakery.
• 10.00 – The Battle of Ashbourne begins. The Fingal Battalion under Thomas Ashe attack the RIC barracks at Ashbourne. After an intense gun battle, during which the RIC are reinforced by a squad from Slane, the Volunteers take the building. Eight policemen and two volunteers are killed. The fighting ceases at around 16.00 in the afternoon.
• 10.12 – Maxwell orders 2/5th and 2/6th South Staffordshires to move from Trinity College and in on the Four Courts.
• 10.20 – 2/5th and 2/6th Sherwood Foresters and the 3rd Royal Irish Regiment are ordered to close in on the GPO from the west and the 5th Leinsters join the eastern cordon.
• 10.30 – 3rd Royal Irish Regiment occupies Great Britain Street
• 10.45 – By mid-morning all rebel held positions are surrounded by British troops. Most positions are being shelled, and all locations are seeing intense sniper fire.
• 12.15 – Troops advancing along Henry Street have been ambushed by rebels and forced to retreat.
• 14.10 – Extensive fighting on North King Street. British troops moving down North King Street are attacked by rebels inside Langan’s Pub.
• 14.30 – The fires on Sackville Street have taken hold in most buildings along the street.
• 14.45 – Intense gun battle between rebels and British troops around Broadstone Railway Station.
• 15.00 – British troops again try to take rebel positions on North King Street, again they fail. In fierce fighting the British make several attempts throughout the afternoon to dislodge the rebels in Langan’s Pub. Casualty numbers on both sides are growing.
• 17.00 – The artillery attack on the Sackville Street area, particularly the GPO, shows no sign of slowing down. Much of the area is destroyed and the fires still burn intensely.
• 18.00 – Fighting is intense around North King Street. The British troops are using armoured cars in an attempt to take the rebel positions. All their attempts fail, and the rebels hold their positions.
• 18.30 – The walls of the GPO, damaged by flames and artillery fire, have begun to collapse.
• 19.30 – The British have taken buildings across the street from rebel positions on North King Street. The two sides are firing at each other at point blank range.

Aerial view of the GPO showing the damage done after the fighting. (Image: Manchester Guardian History of the War, 1916)

• 19.40 – The occupation of the GPO has ended. The building is on fire, and a first party of 20 rebels have begun to evacuate and head towards Moore Street.
• 20.10 – The initial rebel breakout from the GPO has failed with most of the men struck by machine gun fire.
• 20.25 – The Metropole Hotel has collapsed. Oscar Traynor evacuates his men and they move to the burning shell of the GPO.
• 20.30 – The O’Rahilly has been killed. He had agreed to lead a diversionary charge, along with 12 other men, against a British barricade at the junction of Henry Street and Moore Street. He is shot, and drags himself to the back of Kelly’s shop, 25 Moore Street. He writes a last letter to his wife before dying of his wounds.
• 20.40 – Pearse orders the total evacuation of the GPO. Men and women rush from the building in small groups towards Henry Street. They are fired on as they try to move. Pearse is the last man to leave the GPO.
• 20.50 – The rebels, using a truck for cover, manage to move into buildings on Moore Street and Henry Place. The leaders of the Rising gather in 10 Moore Street, to discuss what to do next. In the terraced houses and backyards of Moore Street there are up to 300 rebels gathered.
• 21.00 – The rebels on Moore Street are under constant fire from British positions at the Rotunda. Volunteers, and the civilian residents of Moore Street, are being shot and killed.
• 21.30 – The British are now fully aware of the evacuation of the GPO and are concentrating their fire on Moore Street.
• 21.40 – The leaders of the Rising decide to move. By tunnelling through the houses of Moore Street, they make their final HQ at Plunkett’s Poultry shop, 16 Moore Street.
• 21.50 – The GPO has collapsed leaving only a shell of the building.
• 23.00 – The rebels are surrounded at Moore Street and various other positions around the city. The British seem content to wait out the night, and the firing across the city has diminished. Fighting does continue around North King Street where the British are still trying to take rebel-held positions. In two days of constant fighting the British have managed to take only 150 yards of the street and have lost 11 men with a further 32 wounded.

Saturday, 29 April, 1916
• 06.30 – Heavy fighting on North King Street as the British try and take the remaining buildings. Some rebel positions have been abandoned, but more soldiers are killed and wounded when they attempt to take Reilly’s Fort.
• 6.45 – The leadership in Moore Street has decided on a diversionary attack against the enemy on Great Britain Street. If it is successful the remainder of the rebels will attempt to move to the Four Courts where they can join up with Edward Daly’s 1st Battalion. The attack will be led by Seán McLoughlin with 20 volunteers.
• 07.00 – The rebels across the city are no longer in communication with their HQ, and are unaware that the GPO has fallen. In the Royal College of Surgeons, the South Dublin Union and the Four Courts the rebels sit tight, whereas in Boland’s Bakery there is discussion of a break out.
• 08.00 – Civilians trying to escape their homes in Moore Street are being shot by the British. Other civilians are being killed and injured in the crossfire.
• 08.30 – McLoughlin and his men have made it to the end of Moore Street. On looking out from the rear exit of 25 Moore Street, onto Sackville Lane, McLoughlin sees the dead body of The O’Rahilly and Volunteer Paddy Shortis. They cover the bodies and return to 16 Moore Street.
• 09.00 – In the North King Street area, Father Matthew Hall is full of the injured. Bridgit Thornton later recalls of that morning that ‘the enemy were closing in. The fighting was intensifying, the firing deafening’.
• 10.00 – The South Staffordshire Regiment has continued its attack on North King Street and taken Reilly’s Fort.
• 10.30 – In 16 Moore Street, McLoughlin is quizzed by Pearse about the likely loss of civilian life if the rebels attempt to move from where they are to the Four Courts. Pearse orders McLoughlin to give a ceasefire order to all Volunteers on Moore Street.
• 11.00 – Killings on North King Street. Through the night and early morning the South Staffordshire Regiment have been working along the street on a house by house basis. In many of these houses, and in particular between 170 and 177 North King Street, soldiers attacked innocent men they believed were rebels. These attacks have now ended, but in the last few hours the soldiers have bayoneted or shot 15 innocent men.
• 11.15 – Inside 16 Moore Street the leaders discuss whether to continue fighting or seek surrender terms. Pearse records that by a majority vote the leaders decided to seek surrender terms to prevent further slaughter of the civilian population.
• 12.45 – Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell leaves 15 Moore Street carrying a white flag. The enemy cease firing and she is called to the barricade at the bottom of Moore Street on Parnell Street. She is taken to 75 Parnell Street (Tom Clarke’s shop) as a prisoner, and held to await the arrival of General Lowe.
• 13.00 – Despite the white flag on Moore Street fighting continues on Church Street and Brunswick Street.
• 13.45 – General Lowe arrives on Parnell Street to meet Elizabeth O’Farrell.
• 14.25 – Lowe informs O’Farrell that he expects an unconditional surrender from Pearse within 30 minutes. She is then returned to Moore Street to relay the message to the rebel leaders.
• 15.00 – There has been a leadership meeting in Moore Street, and O’Farrell has been sent back to General Lowe with a note. Lowe repeats that he expects an unconditional surrender in 30 minutes and that this should be delivered by Pearse and he should be followed out by Connolly. If that did not happen Lowe stated that he would resume hostilities.
• 15.30 – Pearse leaves Moore Street with O'Farrell and meets Lowe to surrender. He hands over his sword, pistol and ammunition, and signs a document of surrender. It is agreed that O’Farrell will return to Moore Street and then convey the surrender to rebel positions across the city. Shortly after Connolly is carried to the barricade on a stretcher and handed over to the British.

Pearse and Elizabeth O'Farrell surrendering to the military. (Image: Military Press Bureau)

• 16.00 – O’Farrell, accompanied by Father Augustine, arrives at the Four Courts with a copy of the surrender. Daly later addresses his men, and informs them of the surrender. They hand over their weapons and in the evening march under guard to the Rotunda arriving there at 20.00.
• 19.10 – Daly had been unable to contact his men on North Brunswick Street, and they continued fighting through the afternoon. They are visited by Father Albert, who carries a copy of the surrender. Paddy Holohan, the commanding officer refuses to accept that it is official. A truce is agreed in the area that holds overnight. The truce allows all the casualties that were being treated in Father Mathew Hall to be removed.
• 19.45 – The rebels from Moore Street are brought into Sackville Street, and march in formation to the Rotunda where they are to be held for the night.
• 20.00 – While the former GPO garrison and those from the Four Courts have surrendered and been taken prisoner, the other outposts are not aware of the surrender and spend the night on alert.
• 21.00 – News reaches Enniscorthy of the surrender. Local Volunteers request confirmation of the surrender. In Galway the local Volunteers have dispersed on news of the surrender.

Sunday, 30 April, 1916
• 09.00 – Father Columbus requests of General Lowe that he be allowed to visit Pearse at Arbour Hill Barracks where he is being held. Father Columbus needs a handwritten order from Pearse so that the men at North Brunswick Street will surrender.
• 09.45 – The rebels in North Brunswick Street surrender and 50 men are taken into custody.
• 10.00 – Captains Seamus Doyle and Captain Sean Etchingham are escorted by the army from Enniscorthy to Dublin. Once there they will meet with Pearse who confirms the surrender. The Enniscorthy Volunteers will finally surrender to the British on Monday morning.
• 10.15 – O’Farrell arrives at Boland’s Bakery with Pearse’s surrender. De Valera refuses to accept it, stating that with Pearse a prisoner, he is now under the command of MacDonagh.
• 11.00 – Father Augustine and Father Columbus arrive at Jacob’s Factory with the surrender, which MacDonagh refuses to accept.
• 11.10 – O’Farrell arrives at the Royal College of Surgeons with the surrender. After an hour of discussion the Irish Citizen Army in the Royal College of Surgeons agrees to surrender.
• 12.45 – MacDonagh has met with General Lowe and agreed to surrender Jacob’s Factory.
• 14.00 – O’Farrell goes back to Boland’s Bakery with MacDonagh’s order that the 3rd Battalion accept the surrender order.
• 14.50 – The 120 members of the Royal College of Surgeons garrison formally surrender, and are marched away.
• 15.30 – The men of MacDonagh’s garrison at Jacob’s Factory are marched away having surrendered and handed over their arms.
• 15.00 – Ceannt leaves the South Dublin Union and surrenders. Forty minutes later he has his men fall in, and they are marched away. En route they gather Colbert and his men from Marrowbone Lane.
• 16.30 – The men that have been held at the Rotunda for nearly 24 hours are being marched to Richmond Barracks where they will be imprisoned.
• 18.20 – The men at Boland’s Bakery have handed over their arms and begin their march to imprisonment. They are the last of the rebels to hand themselves over to the British.
• 22.00 – The rebellion in Dublin is over. More than 1,000 men and women are held prisoner by British authorities. The British will arrest more suspects in the coming hours and days, with the total rising to just over 3,500 arrests.

A series of courts martials begin on 2 May, and 90 men are sentenced to death. The executions begin on 3 May with the killings of Pearse, MacDonagh and Clarke, and conclude on 12 May with Connolly and Mac Diarmada the last to die.

In all 15 men are executed, including Roger Casement who is hanged on 3 August in London. 1,480 men are imprisoned in Britain and not released until the end of 1916. The fighting decimated large parts of central Dublin, and will take years to rebuild. In all 447 people have been killed, including 252 civilians, and 2,585 wounded. 64 rebels have died along with 16 policemen and 116 British soldiers.

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